Method of preparing prewelt shoe uppers



"Jan- 1940- E. I. LA CHAPELLE METHOD 0F PREPARING PREWELT SHOE UPPERSFiled Aug. 4, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet l Jan. 9, 1940. .'E '.'I LA CHAPELLE2,186,141

METHOD OF PREPARING PREWELT SHOE UPPERS Filed Aug. 4, 1939 2Shets-Sheet2 Patented an. 9, 1940 'METHOD OF PREPARING PREWELT SHOE UPPERSEuclid 1. La Chapelle, Brockton, Mass.

Application August 4, 1939, Serial No; 288,402 1 Claim." (01. 12-145) Myinvention relates to a novel method of preparing, for the pulling overand side lasting operations, shoe uppers intended for shoes of the wellknown prewelt type.

Theprewelt shoe is an'imitation of the well known Goodyear welt shoeand, although far less costly to make, it embodies the main charbeenmade to manufacture mens and womens shoes in the prewelt type forordinary street wear or in styles directed to dressy shoes. The reasonfor this limitation being primarily due to the lack of retention by theupper for a reasonable period of time, during wear, of the orig inalshape and style of the last upon which pre Welt shoes are made and thereason for this lack, in turn, being due to the fact that the ordinarypulling over and side lasting rules of stretching an upper on a last arenot and cannot be respected, as the locating and securing of the weltupon the upper, as now practiced, disadvantaeously limit the degree ofstretch that should be properly-applied to the upper. The prewelt shoeupper not being fully stretched on the last, as good practice dictates,the prewelt shoe, under the strain of wear, quickly sprawls out oforiginal shape, notably at the little Itoe side by the evil tendency ofthe foot rolling out towards that side and it is mainly for this reasonthat prewelt shoes are not being manufactured in mens and womens typeadapted to effectively compete against Goodyear Welt shoes.

My novel method aims towards preparing a prewelt shoe upper so as topermit application of proper strain upon the upper at pulling over andside lasting and which is adapted to practice in conjunction with a wellknown method of lasting which. dictates'that practically all the strainbe applied upon the great toe side of the upper in the performance ofthe pulling over and side lasting operations.

Therefore, the practice'of my novel method of preparing preweltshoeuppers for the pulling over and side lasting operations, inconjunction with. the practice of the aforesaid well known method oflasting, render possible the manufacture of prewelt shoes in mens andwomens makes, which may favorably compare with ordinary Goodyear weltshoes in retention of origthe welt to the upper;

ibility of bottom and which maybe manufactured at farless cost.

i As shown in the drawings:

Figure 1 shows a top plan View of nary shoe upper provided with a weltlocated and secured thereto in accordance with my novel method ofpreparing pr'ewelt shoe uppers for the pulling over and side lastingoperations;

Figure 2 showsa detail sectional view'takenon line 2-2 Fig; 1, showingthe stitches securing Figure 3 shows a side elevation of a shoe-jack,provided with a treadle and connections to move the toe-restthereof topull the upper lengthwise of the last from the heel to the toe and apre-Welt' shoe upper on a last is shown on the jack provided with upperpulling. means in'readiness to pulled lengthwise from heel to toe in theperformance of the initial step of pulling over;

Figure 4 is a plan view of a prewelt shoe, the upper of which has beenprepared in accordance with my novel method and which has been pulledover in accordance with the aforesaid well known method of pulling'overand side lasting;

Figure 5 is a detail sideview of the shoe-jack and of the shoe shown inFig. 3, showing the prewelt shoe upper in initial pulled over conditionlengthwise of the last from the heel to the of the last;

an ordi- I 'fUNi so 'STATESPATENTYY OFFiCE.

inal shape, comfort, appearance and greaterflex- Figure 6 shows the jackand the shoe, as in Fig; 5, but withthe toe-rest of the jack, which isin the former shoe upper "pulling means, en-

gaging and supporting the shoe ahead of the tip-seam-the operator havingreleased the forepart of the shoe shown in Fig. 5, from the toerest toallow for l e-action of the strained upper to firmly set the toe-end ofthe upper against the edge face of the toe-end of the'last, the tip seamthen moving rearwardly on the last and back to the toe-rest;

Figure 7 shows the upper after, having been pulled over and fastened inpulled over condition at the little toe side of the last while the thelittle toe side.

preferably, is herein shown as of a mans type and I provide an ordinarywelt 2, which I secure to the vamp of the upper by the chain stitches 3,as in ordinary practice but, as shown at 4, I locate and secure the weltupon the great toe side of the upper, up and nearer to the plane of thethroat 5, of the vamp of the upper than at the opposite little toe sideof the upper, so as to thereby permit the practice of a well knownmethod of pulling over and of side lasting which dictates that most ofthe strain upon a shoe upper should be at the great toe side of the shoeupper and from the fasteners already securing the shoe upper in pulledover condition to the insole at the little toe side of the shoe upper,as shown in Fig, 8.

This old lasting method brings about far better results than any otherknown lasting methods, as the strongly strained and fully stretchedgreat toe side of the upper upholds the foot in natural position withinthe shoe and precludes the general evil tendency of the foot rollingtowards Moreover, the upper then stands up uniformly all over once thelast has been removed from the shoe and thus, far less treeing, if any,is required; and the shoe cannot be unduly distorted during wear andretains its original shape for a much longer period of time during wearthan shoes that have been lasted by any other known lasting method.

I assemble the prewelt shoe upper on the last 6. and I then place theshoe on the spindle I, of the jack 8. In this connection, it is to bestated that the said jack forms no part of the patentable subject matterof my present application, as an application for patent, disclosing thesaid jack, minus the treadle and the connections herein shown to movethe toe-rest to pull the upper lengthwise of the last, forwhich hereinno claim of patentable novelty is made,

nor for anything else on the jack, now is pending in the United StatesPatent Office. The said application for a shoe-jack bearing Serial No.281,573 and filing date June 28, 1939. Then, the operator having a caseof prewelt shoes to pull over, starts to pull over the smallest sizeshoes in the case and at every increasing size, he moves the spindle I,away from the toe-rest to the next tooth of the teeth I8, provided onthe bottom portion of the slideways 9, which teeth are spaced one thirdof an inch apart and which are adapted to allow free rearward movementof the spindle I, which are adapted to lock and hold by the locking-pinII, from movement towards the toe-rest I2, so as to hold the shoe frommovement against the lengthwise straining action upon the upper from theheel-end of the last by the forward movement of the toe-rest I2, as bestshown in Fig. 5.

Once the operator has moved the spindle I, with the shoe and the threat5, of the vamp of the upper to its proper relative position to thetoe-rest I2, he depresses the forearm engaging member I5, and'he swingsthe forepart of the shoe ever the toe-rest I2, as shown in Fig. 3.

Then the operator turns the toe portion of the prewelt shoe upperdownwardly and holds the same against the flat front portion of thetoerest 12, while he depresses the treadle I3, to actuate the toe-restforwardly by the toggles M, and thus the upper is overstrainedlengthwise of the last from its heel-end to its tip-seam, as shown inFig. 5, to permit the setting of the toe of the upper over the toe ofthe last. Then the operator sets the toe part of the upper over thespindle 1,

the toe part of the last and thereafter he releases the forepart of theshoe from the toe-rest to allow proper, firm settingof the toe of theupper against the edge face of the toe-end of thelastunder the effect ofthe re-action of the overstrained upper, as shown in Fig. 6. Theoperator now proceeds to pull over the little toe side of the upper onlyto set and then fasten the welt into proper relation to the insole atthat side of the upper and with ordinary hand lasting pincers he fastensthe upper in pulled over condition with the lasting tacks I6, whichclinch against the metallic last bottom plate I1, as shown in Fig. 7 andhe then completes the pulling over operation by strongly straining thegreat toe side of the upper against the lasting tacks I6, until the weltis set over the edge of the insole and then he inserts the lasting tacksI8, and the pulling over operation is then complete, as shown in Fig. 8.As shown in Fig. 4. the prewelt shoe upper, including the throat of theVamp, has been inclined and set towards the great toe side of the last,with the throat of the vamp properly set into alignment with the greattoe of the last, which alignment coincides with the officially acceptedlocation of the central longitudinal line of the last which is from thecenter of the heel to the great toe of the last. To thus incline and setthe upper makes for better tread of the shoe and better fit of thethroat of the vamp to the instep of the wearers foot but forms no partof I my invention, this being the result of the aforesaid old method oflasting now being practiced upon ordinary shoe uppers. Then the pulledover prewelt shoe is removed from the jack and may be passed to aheel-seat lasting machine or to the ordinary prewelt toe and heel andside lasting machine, where these three operations may be performed atone setting and the shoe bottom may be filled and the outsoletemporarily cemented to the shoe-preparatory to the subsequent operationof rough rounding.

The proper location of the welt upon the great toe side of the upper isto be determined by the dead fit of the upper on the intended last butas each style and shape of lasts must necessarily be considered inrelation to the proper corresponding location of the welt upon the greattoe side of the upper, it may be advisable to first pull over andside'last an ordinary upper on the intended last, in accordance with theold method of pulling over and of side lasting here explained, and thento mark the upper around the toe and along the sides for positivelypredetermining thereby the exact location of the welt upon all uppersthat are to be lasted on that particular style of last, in accordancewith the practice of my novel method of preparing prewelt shoe uppersfor the pulling over and side lasting operations. Then, in the practiceof my novel method in the general run of a shoe factory, vamp cuttingpatterns or upper cutting machine dies could be made to conform to themarked vamp of the upper that had been lasted, so that all Vamps wouldbe thereby cut at uniform distance outwardly of the demarcation upon thevamp of the lasted upper. Then the welt could be easily and properlylocated and secured to the Vamps of all uppers by gauging the stitchingof the welt upon each vamp from the edge thereof.

An upper intended for a small size shoe of the prewelt type may onlyextend .one eighth of an inch beyond the edge of the welt and thentemporary fasteners may be inserted to hold'the upper in pulled overcondition on the last preparatory to the side lasting operation. Thewelt then being held on the insole during wear only by the outsolestitches. But I, preferably, extend the upper intendedfor a mans shoe,as herein shown, beyond the edge of the welt to a substantial extent,soas to afford a better grip in pulling over and a more positiveanchorage of the welt to the insole during wear by'fastening the surplusupper to the insole. Although I herein show lasting tacks to secure theupper to the insole, it is to be understood that the upper may be onlycemented to the insole, such as by latex rubber cement, and then awooden bottom last may be provided and temporary lasting tacks may serveat the pulling over operation in holding the upper in pulled overcondition until after the performance of the side lasting operation; orthe upper'may be most advantageously secured to the insole by means ofstaples passing only part way through the body of the insole, providedthat the well known Littleway lasting machine should be made adaptableto the insertion of such staples in prewelt shoes, which I am informedand believe to be entirely possible. In securing the upper to the insoleof a prewelt shoe with such staples, there would be no need-then of aslipsole to cover the riveted lasting tacks herein shown and it isobvious that such staples would be far superior to lasting tacks,

My novel method and the aforesaid well known method of lasting arenotlimited to practice by any particular device or machine. Forinstance, the pulling over operation may well be performed entirelybyhand and even so as to the performance of the side lasting operation.I, however, preferably, hereinfshow a shoe-jack, which is provided withupper pulling means and which is easy to operate and whereby a preweltshoe upper may be more strongly strained lengthwise from heel to toethan by any known mechanical means; and a strong pull is of primeimportance for a pulling over operation conducive to a'longer retentionof the original shape of the shoe during wear and to a firmer set of thecounter on the heel-end of the last.

Prewelt shoes have heretofore been made with economy in view first ofall but I, first of all, visualize the introduction of mens and womensprewelt shoes that may favorably compare with Goodyear welt shoes asthen the cost of making Goodyear welt shoes is far in excess to that ofmaking prewelt shoes.

Prewelt shoes have been heretofore limited to shoes of small sizesadapted to youths and with the idea of economy paramount in view, toavoid the making of a better but costlier heel-seat, the

welt has extended all around the upper, including the heel-seat portionthereof. But, in'view' of producing a heel-seat as of a Goodyear weltshoe, I provide, as herein shown, a welt which extends only to theheel-seatof the'shoe, so as to permit of wiping in and of tacking downthe upper and the counter to theinsole on thelast.

The box-toe material should preferably be of a somewhat stretchy nature,such as, for example, the well known cork box-toe and I, preferably,employ a shoe bottom filler of felt or of cork in sheet form; and it isimportant to state that the slip-sole, which necessarily must beinserted in a shoe that has been lasted with tacks, as herein proposed,preferably should be of soleleather, to adequately protect the wearer'sfeet from contact with the clinched tacks, which are, however, as shortas consistent with the requirements of the thickness of the. insole andof the upper at hand andwhich are clinched into the insole; and Iincorporate an inner shoe bottom of sole leather which is as smooth asthat of the inner bottom of a Goodyear welt shoe and which will not forma I gutter along its marginal portion, as in the case of a Goodyear weltshoe, since the prewelt shoe insole is not channeled.

Having thus explained thenature of my invention and shown the same inthe best form now to me known, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States is:

That method of preparing a prewelt shoe upper for the pulling over andside lasting operations,

1 which consists in providing a shoe upper having a vamp portion; inproviding a welt and in locatingand securing the welt to the great toesideof the vamp higher up towards the plane of the throat of-the vampthan at the little toe side of the vamp, to such an extent, relativelyto the location of the welt at the little toe side of the vamp, thatpractically all the strain may be applied to the great toe side ofthevamp in the performance of the pulling over operation at the sides ofthe vamp and in the performance of the'side lasting operation; inproviding a last; in assembling the prepared prewelt shoe upper on thelast and in then performing the pulling over operation upon theassembledshoe upper by firstly pulling over the vamp lengthwise of thelast; by secondly pulling over and holding in pulled over condition on'the last the little toe side of the vamp; by thirdly pulling over andthereby straining the great toe side of the vamp from the already pulledover and held'in pulledzover condition little toe side of the vamp andby applying fasteners to hold the vamp in pulled over condition on thelast.

EUCLID I. LACHAPELLE.

